Doth from the vulture on its carrion:

The dwellers on this paradisal sphere

Methinks, must be of glorious lineament,

Clad with the brightness of eternal youth,

And buoyant with internal blessedness.

Spirits that shining with untarnished light,

Radiate, and make matter luminous,

Filling the eyes with sweet felicity,

And love, and peace, and all emotions pure.

No sorrow there to make the vision dim,

And wash the mellow ripeness from the cheek;

No guilty deed to brand the heart with shame,

And write its direful sentence on the brow;

No rankling venom struggling through the veins,

And blasting all the kindliness within,

Till like a torrent bursting o'er restraint,

It spread its desolation on mankind;

But a pure regnant holiness and love,

Directing impulse with most queenly sway

[Pg 23]

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